Your first business tax return, demystified

There is no single “business tax return”

How you file depends entirely on how your business is structured — that decides which form you file, when it’s due, and what records you need. Nobody explains this in plain language, so here it is.

Which return is yours?

• Sole prop / single-member LLC: no separate business return. Your business goes on Schedule C, attached to your personal 1040 — due in April.
• Partnership: the business files Form 1065 (due in March) but pays no tax; each owner gets a K-1 that flows to their personal return.
• S-Corp: Form 1120-S, due in March, income flowing to owners by K-1.
• C-Corp: Form 1120 — the corporation pays its own tax, due in April for most.

Mind the March deadlines. Partnership and S-Corp returns come due a month before personal returns — and late-filing penalties apply even in years you owe nothing.

The five things every return needs

• Income — everything earned, whether or not a tax form was issued to you
• Expenses — categorized, with receipts, invoices, or statements behind them
• Assets — equipment and vehicles tracked separately (they’re deducted over time, not all at once)
• Business-use items — vehicle and home-office percentages, with the math
• Owner information — contributions, draws, payroll, ownership percentages

A tax return doesn’t create your data — it reports it. The year you track is the year that files easily.

Watch the full breakdown

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